Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Catching the cars that stayed late at the 9th-Annual Vineyard Grand Classic Car Show

So Saturday, we were leisurely hitting estate sales and enjoying our lunch, when I casually noted that we should hit the annual Grand Classic Car Show at Vineyard Church in Kansas City.  It was about 1:00, and the show wasn’t too terribly far away, so off we went.  The only problem is, the awards presentation for this event took place at 1:00; a detail that I failed to observe beforehand.  As we neared the show, we started meeting several cars on the road.  Not a good sign.

They were just wrapping things up as we pulled in the parking lot.  So while I normally take like a bizzilion pictures at this thing, I was only able to scrounge out about 100.  And that was even with my wife clicking away with another camera at the other end of the parking lot.  When this thing wrapped up, these people cleared the heck out of there.  Not that I blame them.  It was pretty hot and humid, and it can be a long day sitting in a parking lot with no shade.  Anyway, if having your car included in a slideshow on this website is even remotely desirable, then the folks who stayed until the end of the awards should be happy.

So here we have a ’66 Ford Galaxie 500 loaded up with a nice family making their exodus from the church.  This car looked like something a big city attorney passing through Mayberry would have been driving in a color episode of The Andy Griffith Show.  I even like these wheel covers, which look like cool rally wheels.  I don’t think these cars are nearly as popular as a comparable Chevy from the same era, but maybe they should be.  They had nice interiors, solid power, and an upscale sophistication that seems to be getting better with age.

Here’s a nice, smiling lady leaving the show in her ’69 Corvette convertible.  And why wouldn’t she be smiling?  I mean, look at her car.  I’d be happy if I had that thing too.  This was the second year for this generation of Corvette, a style that basically hung on until 1982.  This Monza Red small block looked every bit as good in real life as it does in the pictures. 

This was my wife’s favorite thing at the show.  It’s a ’47 Lincoln Continental that she claims looks like a movie star car.  The hood was closed, but I suspect that the somewhat troublesome Flathead V12 had been replaced by something more modern and reliable.  I’m just saying that because it had a stance like an old car on a newer subframe, and details like the paint color and modern headlights indicate they were going for a later model vibe.   I actually like that they didn’t put the fender skirts back on it, although I suppose that would twist up the purists.  Anyway, if my wife ever wins an Academy Award, expect to see her pull up to the theatre in something like this.

This ’69 Firebird convertible was also one of my wife’s favorites.  Shoot, it was one of my favorites.  On a Firebird, this color was called Carousel Red, although I suspect most people call it Hugger Orange.  Whatever you call it, it couldn’t be any prettier than when paired up with those white seats and rally wheels.  You tend to see a lot of ’69 Camaros around, but this Pontiac is a nice change of pace.

So we shot as many pictures as we could before the parking lot completely cleared out.  I wish I would have gotten there earlier.  I just blew it on this one.  Still, there were still some nice cars that hung on to the end.  You can see them in the slideshow below, or click this link for a nicer version.

4 comments:

  1. You may have been late, but it still looks like a pretty good show. Lots of nice cars and trucks. Hey, there was a Rampside there - hasta be good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great Blog!! That was amazing car show. really beautiful car's.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think the tag team effort was great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Craig,

    Thanks again for making our 9th annual show! Sorry you were late but happy you made it anyway. I looked for you during the show but was busy directing photo shots of the Best of Show and Class Winners at the end. I'm standing there in one of your shots trying to corral the orange rag top Firebird that won its class. We did attract some really nice cars, trucks and motorcycles again this year. We appreciate all fine folks bringing out their beauties for everyone's enjoyment! 2014 is #10!

    ReplyDelete